However, the transition will not occur overnight. Older systems that are now in place were developed to paper presentation and vendor proprietary digital standards that existed at the time the products were developed. The nature of this environment dictates that any shipboard information system must not only support access to CALS compliant data, but also to a broad mix of non-standard digital and paper data.

Shipboard Digital Logistic Information Environment

The purpose of this Phase I SBIR effort was to develop a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) CALS solution enabling single-source access to logistic data maintained in varying formats, media, and storage locations, efficient logistics data management, and graceful migration toward a digital logistic information environment. Upon completion of Phase II, KBSI will provide shipboard maintenance personnel with the means for effectively accessing, manipulating, and managing distributed logistics data sources in support of shipboard systems maintenance activities.

Users will be provided with transparent, single-point access to logistic data although it may be maintained in varying formats, media, and storage locations. They also will be provided with support for managing logistics data through a process designed to assist with the transition toward a fully digital logistics information environment.

Commercial Potential

The benefits of this effort can be measured in terms of both operational and economic gains in organic maintenance capacity, time savings, responsiveness, and flexibility. Shipboard maintenance activities can be significantly enhanced through the adoption of well-designed processes coupled with automation technologies. We anticipate significant efficiency gains through the provision for transparent access to heterogeneous data sources which will, in turn, improve quality and reduce the amount of time required to complete maintenance activities. The accompanying legacy data conversion and management strategy also will help maintenance management to evolve today’s stand-alone systems characterized by inaccessible, incomplete, and often inaccurate data toward an environment that supports transparent, single-point access to needed logistics data.

In the absence of the proposed technology, the rate of progress toward the desired environment will continue to be slow and haphazard.

The system built through this SBIR effort has tremendous commercialization potential because many industries must support remote maintenance and repair operations, including commercial shipping, petrochemical plants and their pipelines, offshore drilling platforms, and automotive repair facilities. The technologies are applicable wherever people need ready access to great volumes of information in a form that is easy to use.